


Break a Leg

by wckdflares



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crushes, Enemies to Lovers, Kinda, Kissing, M/M, Requited Love, Unrequited Love, newt and sonya are twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 21:39:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16272866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wckdflares/pseuds/wckdflares
Summary: Newt and Minho’s old friendship is long gone. It’s senior year now and Newt has plenty to worry about being in charge of this spring’s play while Minho is entirely focused on the track team. When complications arise for both of them, they might just be forced to confront their long history and some past hidden feelings





	1. Chapter 1

“Minho Park, to the front office please.” 

Newt had barely heard the name spoken over the intercom above the constant buzz of chatter in the school cafeteria, but it was enough to momentarily distract him from what his best friend, Thomas was rambling about now. It was also enough for him to be hit with the usual faint, but yet somehow startling, remembrance he always felt when hearing that name. 

It wasn’t startling in a sense that the emotion occurred in the first place naturally, Newt would feel something like that considering Minho had once been such close friend all those years ago. The thing that surprised Newt was how much that simple split second of nostalgia could still manage to affect him. 

”God, you spaced out, didn't you?” 

Newt could only shrug sheepishly in response as Thomas shook his head at him in an amused way that showed there was no real annoyance. 

”Rude, but I’ll let it slide.” Thomas reached across the table to playfully hit Newt’s arm and almost knocking over their drinks in the process. ”Anyway, did you manage to actually listen to what I said about Teresa?” 

”Nope, sorry Tommy.” Newt half heartedly apologized as he brushed his friend’s hand away. ”I kinda lost you when you started talking about an argument with Aris over your band shit.” 

Newt was plenty used to hearing from Thomas all about Teresa Agnes, how beautiful she was, how pretty her eyes were, and how smart she was. Even though he wasn't into girls, Newt could agree with all of those things, but he just wondered when Thomas would actually make a move considering he seemed to like her so much. 

”I’m going to try to ask her out today.” Thomas proclaimed, answering Newt’s thoughts. He still found it pretty hard to believe Thomas would actually go through with this after all the times he had chickened out already.

”Sure, you are.” Newt groaned sarcastically, already knowing how this would turn out. ”Just like you did the other ten times you told me you would.” 

”Oh, shut up.” Thomas didn't let Newt’s attitude wipe the grin off his face. ”But today’s actually the day.” 

”Really?” Newt decided to go along with his friend’s most likely false promise anyway. ”Well, good luck then.” 

”Thanks, but here’s the thing,” Thomas explained. ”I want you to be there when I do it after school.” 

”I can’t.” Newt immediately protested as the words left Thomas’s mouth. “You know how busy I am after school.” 

“Oh, yeah I forgot you have your drama club thing.” Thomas was quiet for moment, seemingly a bit disappointed. “Can’t you just skip today-“

“Thomas, it’s senior year and Miss. Paige just made me student stage director and manager.” Newt interrupted Thomas, finding himself getting strangely irritated. ”I can't skip practices and rehearsals just because I feel like it. I’ve told you this.” 

Newt did hold plenty of pride in himself for earning that role but between all the work involving that and the usual obligations of twelfth grade, he began to find himself stressed out beyond belief. Newt was pretty sarcastic and snarky even when he was in a good mood but because of the stress he was a lot more pissy than usual. 

“I was half kidding, Newt.” Thomas seemed to notice Newt’s now obvious irritation. “I get how important it is to you, I wouldn’t skip band over a stupid reason like that.” 

“It’s fine.” Newt yawned right on cue. “I got like two hours of sleep last night so everything is pissing me off today. I swear I almost yelled at a trash can this morning for getting in my way.” 

”The trash can didn't deserve that, Newt.” 

Thomas let out a small laugh as he flashed Newt the type of smile that would have made him blush two months ago. Newt couldn’t help but cringe as he remembered the horribly awkward time period where he had a small strange crush on Thomas. 

Those type of feelings he had once had for his best friend were completely gone and Newt was entirely glad. He definitely didn’t need something like that to worry about with all the other things he had on his plate. 

“Why did you want me to be there anyway?” Newt wondered out loud. No offense to Thomas, but Newt definitely wouldn’t want him involved in his own non existent love life. “It’d be kinda weird.” 

“For some moral support in case of the ninety-nine percent chance, she rejects me.” Thomas dramatically sighed.

Newt was about to tell Thomas that his explanation still didn't make much sense when his face lit up and he suddenly spoke again. 

”Shit, I forgot earlier Gally told me they have some sort of meeting for speech and debate after school today.” Thomas’ eyes were bright with realization. ”I’m pretty sure it gets over at the same time as your rehearsal. I’ll just hang out there until then.” 

”Can I even trust you not to fuck anything up?” Newt’s tone came out much snappier than he had intended and he hoped Thomas knew he was just joking. 

”Am I twelve?” Thomas retorted, luckily not offended. ”Don’t answer that.” 

”Okay, fine. You can stay at the rehearsal and then we’ll both go talk to her afterward.” Newt relented after a second of consideration. ”The only reason this is happening is so that I can watch you make a fool of yourself in front of Teresa.” 

”Please, I would love to see your amazing flirting skills in action, Newt.”

 

~~~~~~

 

When he was younger, Newt had played soccer for a couple years and absolutely despised it for whatever reason. Once he got to middle school, he had managed to convince his parents to let him quit with the promise that he would join a different extracurricular activity. 

After several miserable failed tryouts and auditions for various teams and clubs, with the suggestion from his favorite teacher that year, Newt found himself at the school’s very small drama group. 

He soon realized that he didn't exactly belong on stage. Newt found actually acting in the plays enjoyable, but he was mediocre at best and much too shy to be in the spotlight like that. 

He was completely content with being backstage helping with the performances, getting satisfaction knowing he had a hand in ensuring the plays went well. Now as Newt neared adulthood, he was heavily considering a career in the film industry. 

”Newt!” He turned to Rachel hurrying towards him, her expression very enthusiastic as she held several sheets of paper. ”The art club just sent me their drafts for the posters they're making.” 

Rachel was in charge of advising the creation all the visuals, including posters, scenery, and even the costumes. 

Newt carefully took one of the papers, examining it as he began to smile. It was a beautifully made poster and he could already picture them hanging up all over the school, advertising their musical. 

After some lengthy debate and discussion, they had all finally agreed on ”Beauty and the Beast” to be this spring’s production. Newt knew it would be pretty difficult for them to pull off, but he also knew it would be absolutely spectacular if they did. He could definitely feel the pressure of it all. 

”They look amazing,” Newt commented as he handed the poster back to Rachel. ”The color scheme is great.” 

”I’ll be sure to give them that feedback.” 

Newt took a deep breath as he looked around the room. The school’s theater was a large dingy room that smelt of dust and paint. He loved it. It had been his second home for the past four years. 

Mostly upperclassmen milled around the room, considering the younger students who made up the choir ensembles and extras weren't required to attend this rehearsal. Miss. Paige was a good supervisor, but she thought the teenagers should be pretty self-efficient and Newt knew she expected him to get things started. 

”Okay! Can everybody meet over there on the stage right now?” Newt called out, gesturing towards the location he was talking about. ”Thanks, guys.” 

He glanced over to the seats where Thomas was sitting in the back on his phone. He gave a cheesy grin as he flashed a thumbs up after catching Newt’s stare. 

He rolled his eyes at him while making a face and Thomas put up a different finger this time, but Newt could see the smile on his face when he looked down to his phone. 

Newt could sense an awkward vibe settle over the group of teens as he approached them. They all nervously exchanged looks, none of them directly meeting Newt’s eyes. He felt slight dread when he realized his lead actor, Winston, wasn’t in the crowd. He had never missed a single rehearsal before. 

“...Who’s going to tell him?“ Brenda, the lead actress in the play, bluntly interrupted the silence. Even after this, nobody spoke and Newt only grew more confused and anxious. 

“Tell me what?” 

“Newt, don’t freak out.” Frypan sighed and gave him a sympathetic glance before looking back down to the ground. ”You know how Winston was coughing a ton last week? Well, turns out he’s in the hospital right now with some really nasty virus.” 

“You’re kidding? This is some kind of joke, right?” 

It wasn't a joke. 

”Shit.” Newt cursed as shut his eyes and took deep breaths, forcing himself to keep his composure. ”Shit. Shit. Shit.” 

This had to have been the worst possible thing to happen, besides the play itself getting canceled. Winston had the role of ”the beast”, perhaps arguably the most important difficult part. 

Of course, there had been an understudy for him, a boy named Jack. The problem was that Winston had so enthusiastic and committed, so Newt didn't even give it a second thought when Jack suddenly dropped the class. 

Everything would be fine if Newt hadn't been so irresponsible and had found another understudy willing to play the role. It was his job to make sure things like this didn't happen and everything ran smoothly. 

”Okay.” Newt finally opened his eyes to see everyone staring at him with reasonably worried expressions. He probably looked like he was about to lose it, but that wasn't Newt planned to do. ”I’ll figure something out. Everyone get to work.” 

He had a very limited amount of time to indeed figure something out, which was going to prove to be difficult, considering there wasn't exactly an abundance of guys in their school who were willing to sing in a musical who weren't already in the class. 

 

~~~~~

 

”Thomas. I need you to be completely honest with me right now.” Newt groaned as they both left the theater into the hallway two hours later. 

”Newt, your hair looks okay.” 

”What’s wrong with my hair?” Self-conscious, Newt’s hands immediately went to his mop of slightly overgrown blond hair, which was sticking out all over the place like it usually did by the end of the day. 

”Nothing! I said it looks fine.” 

”Anyway…” Newt continued after shooting Thomas a hard glare. ”Was I a complete dick in there just now?” 

”You were kinda harsh a couple times,” Thomas admitted honestly. ”Don't worry, I’m pretty sure people are only a little bit scared of you now.” 

Newt didn't want this to be this way. For the past three years, he had been the nice guy hanging around backstage that everyone loved. A huge part of him didn't even want to be in charge. 

”Relax, man.” Thomas gave Newt an awkward pat on the shoulder. “None of this is your fault and it isn’t the end of the world either.” 

Newt silently considered this as they walked to the library where the debate team meeting was ending. 

”Okay, there she is.” Thomas fidgeted nervously when they arrived and Teresa came into view. ”Wish me luck.” 

Newt watched Thomas approach the pretty girl and tried to use it as a distraction to his own sudden problems. He also told himself none of it was a big deal, but he struggled to believe it. He really did take things too much to heart. 

Newt had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts, that he forgot he was standing right in front of the doors that lead out to the track and field. So he had quite a shock when a red-faced boy suddenly burst through them, bumping harshly right into him. 

The boy kept briskly walking without apologizing and Newt had heard him mumbling all different types of swears, but he somehow knew they weren't directed at him. 

That's when it really hit him. The spiked raven hair, the athletic muscled build, and finally the quick glimpse of his face Newt had gotten. 

Minho Park.


	2. Stress and Auditions

“I wonder what got that guy so pissed off.” Newt jumped at the sudden sound of Thomas’ snorting laugh right behind him. “If he’d pushed you a little harder, your ass would be on the ground right now.” 

Newt couldn’t help but watch Minho continue down the hallway until he was out of sight. He deeply sighed as he forced all the sudden thoughts of his old friend away to focus on Thomas for the second time today. 

“You already asked Teresa?” Newt didn’t believe Thomas had already finished talking to her. He couldn’t possibly have been spaced out for that long to miss it. “Quick rejection?”

“You’re a dick.” Thomas retorted. “And, no. I didn’t get rejected actually.” 

“So, you got a date then, Tommy?” 

“Not exactly. Yet.” Newt thought he could see Thomas beginning to blush a little. “I started talking to her, but she said she was in a hurry to get home.” 

“But she seemed interested and gave me her number.” Thomas quickly added. “I think I actually have a chance here.” 

“You better not replace me with your new girlfriend.” Newt grinned at him playfully. 

“Hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. She could still easily reject me over text.” Thomas smiled back. “But I really appreciate the optimism.” 

”That's what I’m here for.” Newt commented but was already slightly distracted as he was suddenly hit with more worries about his new problem. 

Thomas seemed to notice this as his own smile faded. He stared at Newt for a moment. 

”I know you're really worried about your play, but try not to stress out too much.” Thomas gave Newt what he assumed was supposed to be a comforting squeeze on the arm. ”At this rate, you’re going to give yourself grey hairs at the age of seventeen.” 

”Besides, there has to be a dude in this school who’s willing to replace Winston for those extra credits.” 

”And that can act decently, memorize lines, and sing,” Newt mumbled under his breath bitterly. ”I just hope you're right.” 

 

~~~~~

 

”Come in!” Newt called as he pulled an earbud out at the sound of a loud knock on his bedroom door. 

It was later that evening and he was trying to take Thomas’ advice to relax by doing absolutely nothing but listening to music. Of course, that had been after he’d finished writing that essay- 

”Hey.” Newt looked up and was surprised to see his twin sister awkwardly wave and enter the room.

”What’s up, Sonya?” The name still felt strange to say, despite the fact she had decided she wanted to go by her middle name three years ago. She would always be Lizzy to Newt. 

Sonya looked a lot like their father, sharing the same reddish strawberry blonde hair, while Newt’s was more of a golden color. The freckles on her face were a lot more prominent compared to Newt, where you had to get real close and personal to see the very faint dusting of them. 

Aside from those features, their resemblance was quite strong, making their relation very clear and obvious. Newt was also two minutes older than Sonya, something he’d take full advantage of when they were younger and even now when he was in an annoyingly childish mood. 

”I heard about Winston today.” She spoke as she sat down on the bed next to him. “That’s really shitty.” 

“It’s fantastic.” 

After Newt’s remark, an uncomfortable silence settled between them. They had never really been particularly close siblings, despite being twins, and as they got older, their starkly different personalities became more clear and pushed them further apart. 

“Miss. Paige sent out a bunch emails about replacement tryouts next week.” Newt gave her a non sarcastic response. “I doubt there’s going to be a huge turnout.” 

“I could text some of my friends?” Sonya offered. “You know, to see if anyone’s interested.” 

“That would be great actually.” 

That sounded like a good idea, especially since Newt knew Sonya’s contacts probably contained half the school. Unlike him, she was popular, to put it bluntly. She always had been through middle school, and now here she was, head of the school’s cheerleading team with three years of winning homecoming queen under her belt. 

There was more awkward silence now, neither of them knowing what to say to each other next. 

“Hey, you were friends with Minho Park right?” Sonya suddenly asked and Newt nearly choked on air. “In like middle school?”

Newt and Minho became an inseparable pair back in kindergarten and it had stayed that way until eighth grade. That was the time when Minho simply ditched him for an invitation to the popular crowd. By the time they got to high school, Newt was basically nonexistent to someone who had once been his best, and only, friend. Luckily for him, that also happened to be the year Thomas moved to town. 

“We hung out a lot back then.” 

“Oh my god, that’s great!” Sonya exclaimed. “Anyways, you know how he’s captain of the track team, right?” 

Newt knew that. He also knew that Minho had placed first in several state meets and had broken almost every school record over the course of nearly four years. Not that he had been paying extra attention to Minho or anything. 

“Yeah?”

“He got kicked from the team today.” She continued. “Apparently, he got caught by Janson with weed or something in the school parking lot. At least that’s the story everyone’s saying.” 

“But don’t all you guys smoke and shit?” 

“Sometimes, but unlike Minho we don’t get caught.” 

“Technically, Minho could turn in the entire team for doing the same thing that got him kicked off.” 

“Nobody likes snitches, Newt.” 

This turned the conversation into them recalling the time Newt tattled on their whole third grade class and nobody, even Sonya and Minho, talked to him for an entire week. 

About a half an hour later, Newt “kicked” Sonya out of his room once she began to pester him about the love life he didn’t have. She left giggling like a maniac while Newt rolled his eyes with an embarrassingly red face. 

He was honestly surprised that Sonya had even came in and talked to him. It was a Friday night and he had expected her to be out instead of hanging out with her lame brother, until he remembered she’d been grounded by their parents for failing an exam earlier this week. 

Oh well. It seemed like an eternity since they had ”quality sibling” time and now maybe their mother would quit nagging them about hanging out more. Besides Newt had missed laughing with her. They shared the same stupid sense of humor. 

Newt went to bed that night with Minho and that stupid play stuck in his thoughts.

 

~~~~~

 

”Aris?” 

It was later that week and Newt and some others, including Thomas, were finally hosting the auditions he’d been dreading. As he expected, barely any students had shown up to try out, but he definitely hadn't expected Aris Jones to be one of them. 

”This would look really good on a college application.” Aris shrugged as he stepped on stage. 

Newt heard Thomas grumble something from beside him. The two had never really gotten along and it didn't help when Aris also developed a crush on Teresa. Fortunately for Thomas, Aris got over her and started dating Rachel. 

”Go ahead whenever you're ready, Aris.” Frypan cheerfully called out. 

Aris cleared his throat before launching into a dramatic monologue. He was actually good, definitely better than the other three guys who had already auditioned. 

”Great job!” Newt cheered out when he’d finished. He elbowed Thomas in the side until reluctantly began to clap too. 

All of his enthusiasm vanished as soon as Aris began to sing a minute later. Now, Newt himself could barely carry a tune, but this was another level of terrible. 

Newt felt slightly guilty when he found himself subconsciously comparing the singing he was hearing to a dying cat. He did his very best to make sure he kept a polite smile and didn't visibly cringe. 

Thomas, on the other hand, didn't make that effort, the distaste on his face very clear. 

Rachel watched her boyfriend on stage with a completely loving and adoring expression. Newt could only hope his future lover would ignore his flaws in that same manner. 

Soon after, Aris finished his audition and left, leaving the group to begin to deliberate between their possible replacements. Considering the circumstances, they could not afford to be picky, but in Newt’s near perfectionist mind, none of those boys were exactly good enough.

”Am I too late?!” 

Everyone turned at the sound of doors opening paired with a frantic male voice at the back of the auditorium. 

”Can I still audition?” Of course, it would be Minho, of all people, who walked into the room at that moment. 

Newt almost laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter was a bit boring, but now that Minho’s finally in the picture things should definitely get a lot more interesting <3


End file.
